Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a photoconductor, an image forming apparatus, and a process cartridge.
Description of the Related Art
In electrophotography, an image is formed by exposing a photoconductor to a series of processes including charging, irradiation, developing, and transfer. In particular, organic photoconductors that use organic materials are widely used in electrophotography lately for their advantage in flexibility, thermal stability, and film formation property.
Among various types of organic photoconductors, function-separated multi-layer photoconductors are now the mainstream. A function-separated multi-layer photoconductor generally includes a conductive support, a charge generation layer containing a charge generation material, and a charge transport layer containing a charge transport material. The charge generation layer and the charge transport material are laminated on the conductive support. The charge generation layer and the charge transport layer serve as photosensitive layers. In particular, a number of negatively-chargeable photoconductors have been proposed that includes: a charge generation layer dispersing an organic pigment as a charge generation material in a vapor-deposited layer or a resin layer; and a charge transport layer dispersing an organic low-molecular-weight compound as a charge transport material in a resin layer. A technique of providing an undercoat layer between a conductive support and a photosensitive layer has also been proposed for suppressing charge injection from the conductive support.